The cartoonist who became the internet's most-trolled target

Wars & Conflicts · Published 9 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Ben Garrison's shift from a traditional graphic artist to a viral political cartoonist sparked a unique digital phenomenon. His work became a playground for internet trolls, leading to a bizarre cycle of edits, nicknames, and legal battles that defined the boundaries of online harassment and political discourse.

Born in 1957, Ben Garrison began his career as a graphic artist for the San Angelo Standard-Times in 1980. After a 20-year hiatus from political commentary, he returned to drawing in 2009, inspired by the 2008 financial crisis. His first viral success came in 2010 with 'The March of Tyranny,' a cartoon depicting global elite bankers. This piece became a lightning rod for controversy when internet trolls on 4chan edited it to include antisemitic caricatures, a trend that persisted across much of his body of work.

Due to the extreme level of harassment, Milo Yiannopoulos labelled Garrison 'the most trolled man in internet history' and The Nib described him as 'the most trolled cartoonist in the world'. Trolls frequently replaced his imagery with offensive symbols and gave him nicknames like 'Zyklon Ben.' Garrison attempted to fight back legally, spending over 100 hours in 2014 trying to scrub libel from the internet, a task he described as 'trying to sweep the tide out with a broom.'

Garrison's work has consistently drawn fire for its content, which critics label as sexist, racist, and anti-government. His 2017 cartoon involving the Rothschilds and George Soros led to a formal finding of antisemitism by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). This specific controversy even resulted in Garrison being uninvited from a 2019 White House Social Media Summit just four days after the initial invitation. While he maintains a libertarian identity, his cartoons are frequently cited as examples of the alt-right's aesthetic and political messaging.

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